February 19, 2013
Mark Morris Dance Group press release
"Distinctly vibrant with a very classic beauty" Chicago Tribune
"Charming, exhilarating, unexpected" New York Observer
Riveting Mark Morris Dance Group Comes to Cleveland March 2
World Renowned Troupe Performs to Live Music at the Palace Theatre
CLEVELAND (Feb. 11, 2013) Now in its 33rd year, the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance Group comes to Cleveland for one performance only on March 2 at the Palace Theatre in PlayhouseSquare. Celebrated for its artistically powerful dancers, the company is known for its commitment to live music and the creativity and musicality of Artistic Director and Choreographer Mark Morris.
Tickets for the Saturday evening performance at 8 p.m. are available at the PlayhouseSquare ticket office, 216-241-6000 or online at www.playhousesquare.org.
This highly anticipated dance event is presented by DANCECleveland, The Center for Arts and Innovation at Cleveland State University, the CSU Department of Theatre and Dance, and PlayhouseSquare.
The company will perform three of its acclaimed dances: Canonic Studies, created in 1982, is danced to short piano pieces in time by various composers; Festival Dance, from 2011, is set to music by Johann Nepomuk Hummel; and Socrates, a 2010 work for 15 dancers set to Erick Satie's "Socrate."
The performance will be accompanied by a quartet of musicians from the MMDG Music Ensemble. Formed in 1996, the ensemble performs with the Mark Morris Dance Group at home and on tour and has become integral to the company's creative life. The core group, supplemented by musicians from a large roster of regular guests, has helped the Dance Group achieve an unprecedented streak of close to 800 performances with live music.
Pianist Colin Fowler has played and directed music across the country, at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Library of Congress. Zach Finkelstein, tenor, has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and operatic roles at Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and Tanglewood. Cellist Andrew Janss' performances have taken him across four continents including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Louvre. Cyrus Beroukhim, violin, has received international recognition as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has appeared a various halls throughout the U.S., Japan, Germany, Luxembourg and Israel.
The Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG), based in Brooklyn, NY, was formed in 1980 and gave its first concert that year in New York City. In 1988, the company was invited to become the national dance company of Belgium, where it spent three years in residence in Brussels. The company returned to the U.S. in 1991 as one of the world's leading dance companies, performing across the country and at major international festivals. MMDG performs annually at the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival. From the company's many London seasons, it has garnered two Laurence Olivier Awards. It collaborates with leading orchestras, opera companies and musicians including Yo-Yo Ma, Zahir Hussain, Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nozaki, among others.
Founder Mark Morris danced with the companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean and Eliot Feld before founding his own company, where he has created more than 130 works. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. His work is in the companies of San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet and many others. Among his many honors are being named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, and the Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award.
For more information about Mark Morris Dance Group, visit: www..org
For more information about DANCECleveland, visit: www.dancecleveland.org
ELECTRONIC PHOTOS AVAILABLE FROM PAM BARR AT 216-932-5060 or barrp@roadrunner.com
DANCECleveland, a Cleveland, Ohio based non-profit, is one of a handful of presenters nationally that is dedicated solely to the presentation of modern and contemporary dance. The centerpiece of the organization's programming is its annual performance series. The performances are surrounded by an array of educational outreach events including artist-run master classes, residency programs, student matinees, pre-performance lectures and post-performance Q&A sessions, designed both to break artistic boundaries and provide community access to the dance aesthetic and dance luminaries that DANCECleveland brings to Northeast Ohio.
PlayhouseSquare is a not-for-profit performing arts center that presents and produces a wide variety of performing arts, advances arts education and creates a destination that is a superior location for entertainment business and housing, thereby strengthening the economic vitality of the region.
Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for engaged learning. With an enrollment of more than 17,500 students, eight colleges and approximately 200 academic programs, CSU was again chosen for 2012 as one of America's Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report.
Funding for this presentation is generously provided by:
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Cleveland Foundation, George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Kulas Foundation, John P. Murphy Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council.
